Media Watch V

Just how manipulative, dishonest, sensationalist, gutless, unfair and unbalanced is the media in this country? If, like me, you believe they need to be held accountable for the gross display of injustice they push down the throats of the Australian public then this is the thread in which to voice your opinion.

I intend to keep the Media Watch threads open indefinitely. If anyone sees an example of their lies in action then we’d like to learn about it. We will document everything we can and spread the message as far as we can.

The truth will win in the end.

The Media Watch pages are archived after 300 comments (or thereabouts), as beyond that they can be slow to open if accessed by some mobile phones.

Hi Pip, I agree Uhlmann just keeps on delivering very weak performances. He tried so hard for the gotcha response it was pathetic.
On a related point, I note his wife is no longer seen standing next to the PM during local TV announcements, I wonder who decided on this approach?

So it was one of the Bali bombers who provided the information about bin Laden’s whereabouts. And so where does the information from the US fit in – that it was an inmate of Gitmo who provided this information.

The statement was that the information about bin Laden was extracted by the usual Gitmo method – but a Bali bomber arrested only a few weeks ago would have had nothing to do with Guantanamo Bay.

‘Mr Richardson said yesterday: “Mr Rudd’s statements on the matter were in conformity with the advice from the Australian security and intelligence community. They also followed comprehensive coverage of this matter in the international media.

“This has also today been confirmed by the US embassy in Canberra.”

A quick google of news stories verifies this too be true. So why did they continue on as if it wasn’t?

Hi luna_lava, I hadn’t picked up on “the wife” with Abbott.
Someone must have decided it was a step too far.
As for the Pakistan questions, all the journos should have a read of what Kevin Rudd said on Lateline about the political complexities in that country. All they are doing is displaying their ignorance on the subject.

ALI MOORE: As Foreign Minister you get far better intelligence than most if not all of our audience, what’s your view?

KEVIN RUDD: The more you are around in this sort of business the more you can be surprised by what might appear to be the case and what might not appear to be the case. I have just learnt through long and bitter experience that you wait until the jury’s in on these questions and I’d much rather do that and therefore there is obviously questions to be asked, questions to be answered, that will occur between the US and Pakistan, I’m sure we will be briefed in due course about the outcome of all that.

The other thing I’d say is that Pakistan itself is an extraordinarily difficult, complex operating environment. Anyone familiar with the politics of Pakistan, the role of the military, the role of the intelligence services, the porous nature of the border with Afghanistan, this is a very tough place to operate from and with and in cooperation with. So let’s just wait until the jury’s in. That’s the safest thing to do

ALI MOORE: In essence though are we being asked to believe that really as one of two things, either Pakistan is duplicitous or it’s incompetent because if they didn’t know should they have known?

KEVIN RUDD: Pakistan is a population of 170-180 million people. It’s one of poorest countries in the world. It has an inhospitable geography. For those reasons dealing with the country is physically complex and challenging before you go to the politics of the country

and
ALI MOORE: Isn’t that the great irony that he was actually found in a very highly populated area, a garrison town full of military personnel. So in that sense if they didn’t know should they have?

KEVIN RUDD: Can I just make this point in passing by way of reference. I think it took the United States some 17 years to track down the Unabomber. With the formidable assets in this country tracking down an individual, we should not just leap to conclusions in one direction or another .

Nice, polite hint from the Foreign Minister, to not jump to conclusions in time for the News or Lateline :smile:

Sue @ 9.06am. I’ve never heard of Steve Hutchins, but that makes three religious interferers who will soon be gone from the Parliament. J. McGauran, S. Fielding and this guy.
Must say I’m offended by the “tin pot” reference. I lived in the NT for years and it might be a little potty at times, but certainly not “tin pot”.

Min, I doubt that Moore will learn a thing from that interview; she tries very hard to be a hard hitting anchor type, but more misses than hits IMHO.
She could be so much better if she gave up the ‘gotshas’, and stopped the high-pitched thing she does.
Bitch session over.

Pip, it sounds as if Moore is one of those interviewers who is handed their ‘class notes’ and when the person being interviewed starts talking about something that they weren’t anticipating, then their questions start to sound a bit odd.

An up to scratch interviewer would have reseached the topic, in this case Pakistan and so when Rudd went into diplomatic issues, then Moore could have asked him a relevant question.

Min, maybe that’s part of the problem.
They have their ‘class notes’ and don’t know how to, or don’t want to go off their line of questioning.
“Let me put that another way”
“if we could just go back to the question” etc.
They have the little standard phrases but no back-up, and it doesn’t make a lot of sense by the end.

The one thing that comes across every time with Kevin Rudd is that he knows his craft, and in the politest way possible with no malice intended, he makes the lot of them look like amateurs.

Pip, sad indeed. Suicide and suicide attempts are especially tragic when dealing with the young. When I was working with an organisation a few years ago which assisted with counselling advice on youth suicide the reasons given when notes were left would leave the reader always in tears – just so sad, that the young person thought that they would fail their TAFE course as an example, and mostly it was about how things would never get any better. For those with teenagers and friends who suddenly stop communicating reach out to them and do your best to keep the communication flowing.

The gormless ABC is hot on the heels of the oo for becoming the most dishonest ‘reporters’ of what was actually said.

Here is a transcript from their lateline sideshow

TOM IGGULDEN:…….The re-opening of Manus Island appears to be at odds with the Prime Minister, who’s been a vocal critic of the Pacific Solution, the Howard Government’s response to a wave of boat arrivals.

JULIA GILLARD, PRIME MINISTER (Last July): Processing was then undertaken on Manus Island and Nauru. That’s not my approach. That’s not what I’m seeking to achieve.

TOM IGGULDEN: But asylum seeker advocates say reopening the centre would be a return to the bad old days.

PM: Let’s just remind ourselves of a little bit of history, here. Of course, the Pacific Solution was announced by the Howard Government as a unilateral action of that Government and it was announced as an urgent response. It happened very, very quickly when we had the Tampa and other pressures. That processing was then undertaken on Manus Island and Nauru.

That’s not my approach. It’s not what I’m seeking to achieve. What I’m seeking to achieve through an open conversation with regional partners is a regional change in how we deal with irregular people movement.

She has never said she would not use Manus, but the clear implication there is that it is there as an option when discussing a regional framework. But lets not let mere facts get in the way of a juicy story shall we.

And still on the subject of myths..so much for Abbott’s stereotypical dole bludger.

The paper, Beyond Stereotypes, challenges what it calls the myths about Australia’s 2.08 million social security recipients that dominate public debate and hamper efforts to improve their job prospects.

It says it is a myth that the typical unemployed person is a school leaver who could find a job quickly if he or she searched hard enough.

Last year only 27 per cent of unemployment payment recipients were under 25, nearly a third were 45 or older, and 41 per cent were 25 to 44.

Sue, from your link.. they claim that secretly spying on and filming women entering an abortion clinic isn’t intimidation. Then what else is it, the aim of intimidation being to act as a deterrent Big Time.

If women know that they are going to be filmed then these religious nut cases clearly hope that this form of intimidation will stop women and girls from seeking an abortion.

The next step will be to target the health care professionals. In the US this means shooting and explosives. This needs to be stopped and stopped quickly.
I note that when the Abbott was Minister for Health he was keen on using threats against any drug company who imported and sold RU486.
Maybe a resourceful journo could ask him what he thinks about these drop kicks.

There is no hiding the fact that Mandatory Detention was also a part of the Howard government’s Pacific Solution. Why have Labor not been accused of this all along?? There is also no hiding the fact that annexing islands and by-passing our international obligations were also core components, yet where is the re-instatement of these policies??

This policy is in keeping with the Labor intent of opening Regional Processing Centers. These would act completely differently from the way they did under the Pacific Solution, which deliberately kept the host nations out of the picture.

What a vapid, self-defeating and thoroughly deceiving piece of self absorbed opinionated factoids, dressed up as anything but the truth.

Hi Migs, it is worth a post on it’s own, maybe an explanation for the rabbott, ie. asylum seekers are not illegal boat people.
I’m beginning to wish he woulsd take a long jump off a short jetty. He’s such a nasty piece of work.

THE indigenous expert who co-wrote the report that triggered the Northern Territory emergency intervention has blasted the program as “neither well-intentioned nor well-evidenced”, and said it had compounded the problems facing indigenous people.

Pat Anderson, one of the two authors of the Little Children are Sacred report to the NT government in 2007, told a conference in Sydney yesterday the intervention was “based on ignorance and prejudice”, and ignored the report’s central recommendation to consult indigenous people.

As a result, most of the program was “deeply problematic”, and even with the changes made after Labor’s 2007 election victory, the policy “adds to the sense of disempowerment and stress many (indigenous people) already feel”.

Delivering the keynote address to the Coalition for Research to Improve Aboriginal Health, Ms Anderson, now chairwoman of the Melbourne-based Lowitja Institute, said the “control factor . . . is a critical determinant of health”, while “disempowerment and social exclusion have powerful negative effects on health”.

If any other group in our community was treated to this top down treatment I believe that the outrage would have stopped the intervention from starting at all, and a more intelligent, respectful policy might have taken it’s place.

There was nothing more that demonstrated the NTER as implemented by Howard was only a political construct to boost waning polls as Downer alluded to, than the fact so very little of the Little Children are Sacred report recommendations were actually implemented by the Howard intervention, yet the Howard government continually referred to that report as the basis for the intervention and it was that report and its recommendations that made the intervention so urgent.

the increasing difficulty to live in remote communities when welfare quarantining may mean you need to travel 400 kilometres to do your shopping

the attack on the legitimacy of traditional culture and language through closing down the bilingual education system

the attack on the ability of Aboriginal communities to stop mining on their land by transferring freehold title into leases back to the government

The government hasn’t mentioned “mining” in any of its discussions about the intervention – remember, it’s all about protecting the children, nothing to do with the incredibly valuable resources under the ground in the Northern Territory. But we can see for ourselves the benefit to Australian capital – especially mining interests – if these communities were to not exist, if life out there got so hard, because of various state and federal laws, that eventually the Indigenous people were forced to move into town.

Yes Pip, the NTER was one of a few panic policies hastily bought in by Howard on the back of a long series of waning polls. The Little Children are Sacred recommendations were used as the excuse and uranium rich and geological stable land in a rough South-North corridor was the aim.

Do a join the dots on those communities selected for the NTER, the locations of resources to them and just as important geologically stable land. Then look at the no contest tender for the South-North rail won by none other than Haliburton.

The head of the NBN Mike Quigley and CFO Jean-Pascal Beaufret have said via their in-house lawyers that no allegations of corruption or bribery were ever made against them.

The head of the NBN Mike Quigley and CFO Jean-Pascal Beaufret have said via their in-house lawyers that no allegations of corruption or bribery were ever made against them.

We recently published two articles following allegations made by Opposition Spoksperson Malcolm Turnbull about NBN Co executives Mike Quigley and Jean-Pascal Beaufret and a corruption investigation into Alcatel-Lucent whilst they were senior executives of the French Company. Those articles implied that Mr Quigley and Mr Beaufret were responsible for the corrupt practices of Alcatel-Lucent and should have disclosed the investigation of the company to the government when considered for their roles at NBN Co.

Smarthouse acknowledges that those statements were unfair to Mr Quigley and Mr Beaufret.

Smarthouse accepts that no allegations of corruption or bribery were ever made against Mr Quigley and Mr Beaufret and they were not involved in any way in the incidents. We also acknowledge that Mr Quigley and Mr Beaufret were never questioned by investigating authorities. As such, there was no proper basis for suggesting the investigation into Alcatel-Lucent should have been disclosed by Mr Quigley or Mr Beaufret.

Smarthouse unreservedly apologises to Mr Quigley and Mr Beaufret for the harm caused to them by the articles.

“Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the new facility would provide expanded services for people across south-east NSW. ”The new South East Regional Hospital will have expanded capacity and will deliver more health services to the community and that is great news for patients and their families,”http://www.canberratimes.com.au
Another day, another announcement on health spending.
Only problem with the announcement it was in the Canberra Times and not the Bega news.
It is actually a good story for Canberra because it is hoped it will take the pressure off Canberra hospitals.

Mobius, I wonder how many other Liberals and Nats., have the same ‘belief’ system as Mr. Shaw. He obviously has no qualms about voicing his twisted opinions, so do his colleagues cringe quietly, or do they agree with him?

Pip, I don’t think that it had anything to do with Mr Bolt’s presentation it was to do with his topics of discussion.

“It featured white middle-aged men talking about Boltian fundamentals – namely, the great climate change con and those refugees taking over the country – with a surfing Afghan refugee beamed in to be scolded for high unemployment among his compatriots.

The most interesting aspect of the first instalment is whether there will be a second.”

Mobius, maybe it screened too early in the morning for his legion of bogan followers, most of whom would be laying asleep in some gutter. The more intelligent ones, however, would still be in the trees at that time of day.

Crap el gordo. Not one of the Labor governments were given “honeymoon” periods whilst the Liberals certainly are getting off Scott free.

How is breaking major promises and making excuses for failures allowable in the first year or so of office but not after that. If that were the case all governments would promise the world in the election, break all those promises in the first couple of years and royally stuff up only to concentrate on the election for the next year or so to repeat it in the next term.

Adding to that I’ve not only described Kennett and Howard but it now appears Barnett, whose honeymoon is certainly over, Baillieu whose honeymoon must be just about ending and O’Farrell, who promised to get down to it immediately and make no excuses but has not got down to it referring much off to way distant committees and is making lots of excuses.

No I didn’t watch Bolt and never will. I turned him off on Insiders so why should I watch a whole show of him. It’s not as though he will say or do anything that you can’t predict almost to the word for word anyway.

And there is nothing ever quotable from Bolt, just the same rabid right wing mindless points that can all be distilled into a few narrow things; right=good left=bad or white anglo saxon=good any other colour=bad plus Christian= even better white anglo saxon whilst Muslim=great evil and even worse other colour.

Bolt would have said he was happy with the numbers if only his family had watched and the executives of course would say it was more than they expected especially since they didn’t tell anyone how many they were expecting.

Let’s remember who is bankrolling this and why.

But all that is mute because it’s not what Bolt or the executives are happy with but the advertisers, and that is what is to be seen.

As a left winger you certainly stick up for the right wing radicals more than the left. Very telling.

But how about a big round of applause for Tom Dick of the SMH who wrote..

It is named for Bolt, hosted by Bolt, and dominated by the Boltian worldview. It featured white middle-aged men talking about Boltian fundamentals – namely, the great climate change con and those refugees taking over the country – with a surfing Afghan refugee beamed in to be scolded for high unemployment among his compatriots.

The most interesting aspect of the first instalment is whether there will be a second.

Funded by Gina. I wonder which is more important to her, the Blot or the $.

Sue @ 8.46am I often listen to Insiders on News Radio; don’t have to look at Barrie Cassidy that way as he often seems aggressive to any Labor guests, and that turns me right off.
Yesterday was a big improvement even though Nikki Savva is a ninny, and I would add, more than a little smug.

Pip, when has Gina ever done anything without the $s being in it. If the Blot doesn’t get his message through via ratings he will be chucked into the first available garbage pail by Gina..and it couldn’t happen to a nicer fella’.

Both Sam Maiden and Greg Jericho got a mention on Media Watch, as both had reviewed Sideshow by Lindsay Tanner. Guess who got the bouquet and who the brick bat, deservedly so.
Congratulations to the bloggers.

Excellent Media Watch tonite. It no doubt has a smallish audience, but Sam Maiden probably wouldn’t like being named & shamed on national TV. But the Oz will jump to her defence if necessary.
Speaking of the Oz, it reputedly runs at a fair loss, being funded by Mr Murdoch to push his cause, so I see no reason why the new board member at 10 wouldn’t fund a loss making show if this is what Bolt’s gig turns into. I see it as being used to generate “Tony Abbott says..” talking points. If it becomes a laughingstock, that’s another matter.

Sue @ 9.38pm, Grogs got the bouquet from MW, so can we expect another smear campaign from Massola?
Samantha Maiden should be looking to change careers anyway. I lost count of the times that she whinged about the PM wearing “another white jacket”. Daughter tells me white jackets are quite the thing now.
Come to think of it, Maiden’s not exactly a fashion plate.

Quote from Oscar Wilde:

“By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.”

I’ve come late to this (midnight!) after watching Lateline and LL Bus.

I guess that Bolt has ‘shot his bolt’ and hasn’t got much more to offer. Climate change and boat people being his main areas of expertise! That and being front runner for Tony Abbott’s People’s Revolt. Whatever happened to the Revolting People?

I watched Bolt out of curiosity. I had given up watching Insiders if he was on and had told the ABC. I had wanted to see if Bolt could handle the job of show host rather than being an obnoxious bully. But he was boring the show was dull. Bolt is well on the way to becoming a laughing stock.
Bolt was so bad I cannot see comedians even bothering to parody him.
So to the hypothetical 40000 you can now subtract 1

That’s right Bacchus, I just did a search and the only place that 40,000 figure came from was from Bolt, and only after the ratings figures came out.

As I posted at Crikey, let’s put The Bolt Report figures in some perspective.

It didn’t make the top 50 shows on Sunday May 8. 50 was Timmy Time on ABC in the morning with 184,000 viewers.

Weekend Today and Sunrise Sunday average around 400,000 viewers over 3 hours. So this means far more people get their political news from Cameron Williams and Andrew O’Keefe than they do from Bolt.

Whilst these other shows are expected to remain at or improve on the current figures The Bolt Report is expected to substantially go down in viewers.

No matter how they try to spin it, and the Boltites are in force across the innerwebs trying to spin for all they’re worth, this show is a disaster and will only be kept afloat because it’s a political platform of a very wealthy person and not because it deserves to be kept on air in it’s own right.

Why would producers back a show fronted by a high paid commentator and guests they must pay, thinking they will only get 40,000 on début and then go down from there. In normal circumstances they wouldn’t waste their time and effort, but then again this is all about the views of a very wealthy lady rather than any real exercise in attempting successful TV.

But even Gina must be thinking if she’s wasting money here with such a bad start and Bolt being Mr. Boredom instead of Mr. Firebrand.

As to the 40,000 figure. Going on Bolt’s past performance in honesty and integrity, I’ll take it with a grain of salt.

How can they be brainwashing the younger demographic when it will not be the younger demo watching The Bolt Report. And even if they were what percentage of a measly and dwindling 100,000 will be younger viewers, not many I suggest, so the whole brainwashing younger viewers is a nonsense.

So far there is no demographic breakdown for Bolt’s show and I doubt one will be made widely public as it will be another embarrassment for Ten, Gina and Bolt.

——————————————-
Any if you want to join the boycott of Bolt advertisers, some who have already pulled out, here is the list:

Credit where it’s due, the Oz is an equal opportunity employer so long as you’re being employed to bag the ALP.
Peeping into my newsagent, the headline read “Greens slam budget…”. I didn’t think the Oz would give them the time of day, but we all have our uses. Other lines that come to mind are ” Jay Gould…. Charles Ponzi…. Bernie Madoff slam budget…”

A NEW super-fast fibre-optic cable linking Australia to south-east Asia will open within two years and will be 10 times faster than existing undersea cables, according to the new Leighton subsidiary Australia-Singapore Cable.

The link could lower costs and increase download speeds for Australian internet users as it gives wholesale providers an alternative route to overseas websites – other than two ageing cables already running along the route.

Pip. this announcement illustrates how quickly the technology and the uses of the Internet is growing.

It underlines the fact that many refuse to face, that there is no way, even a well maintained copper wire can meet the needs of now, forget about the near future.

I noticed all we are getting from Mr. Abbott is the boring repetition of slogans. I listen when he speaks, hoping he does have something new to say. I am finding this harder, as I turn off at the same sentence.

Min, at ten on a Sunday morning, I was getting over the night before.

Later when I had children, I was trying to do the impossible, have a sleep in. Sunday mornings were time to catch up on lack of sleep.

I have seen no evidence as a great grand mother that things are any different today.

What is it with the news media? Yesterday and last night there were stories of concern that the set top box program would turn into another pink batts rort. Who was concerned? The opposition was concerned! It’s easy to think sometimes that that mob are from another planet. Therein lies my only interest in them.

Roswell, I think that the opposition are concerned that the old dears might start saying how wonderful the government are. I don’t know about another planet but the opposition is certainly living in fantasy land.

No surprises here, Joe Hockey threatens to b;lock supply and force an early election as it considers Budget response. He’s not a man to waste time considering the Budget before he threatens to block supply. He is, however, a man desperate to make something happen before the Senate changes. What a goose.

I think most of us could write Mr. Abbott’s speech tonight. Question time in both houses are anything to go by, we will learn little about what he proposes in answer to the government. Mr. Abbott needs time to catch up. He is still struck in time talking about the Flood Levy and Carbon tax. We cannot expect him to understand something that happened the day before yesterday. Any way, budgets and economics is just too boring.

Will he meet Mr. Costello’s standard of what an Opposition response should be, or will it be what is more likely, his ranting and raving and scare campaign that Australia as we know it, is coming to an end.

We can expect him to defend the wealthy and powerful mining companies. The only information we have is to cut 12,000 public service jobs.

Mr. Abbott himself wants to make life tougher for the unemployed and other welfare benefits. Does he have invisible people that will put his promises into operation.

We can be certain that none of the savings he proposes will affect his mates. After all the upper middle and higher income earners are entitled to their benefits. Mr. Abbott himself has problems on surviving on his income, leading him to re-mortgage his house to the tune of about three quarters of a million. Yes it is hard to live when you only earn $150,000 a year. My heart bleeds for them.

Oh, I forgot to add, Mr. Abbott believes the budget is about class warfare. It is OK for Mr. Abbott to attack the so called lower class though.

I know this is a Labor site but it does not lessen the information.

“In May 2004, Mr Costello said of Mark Latham’s budget in reply:
There was no specific policy, there was no costings, there was no explanation of economic policy or financial policy. There was nothing that we had not heard before. There has been no work done. They have put forward no policy, and most astounding of all, after saying that he would be announcing tax cuts for people, he made no tax announcement. Not a single tax announcement and this is supposed to be a Budget reply. Now even last year Mr Crean did a Budget reply and that is what it looks like. You do the tables as to what your policies are going to cost and how you’re going to pay for them and that was Mr Crean last year. There is not a single table or a single amount and I think Australians have been taken for a ride tonight because whatever that speech was about it was not a reply to the Budget.

So the test for Mr Abbott tonight is clear.

Mr Abbott must either:
Back the savings measures in the Government’s Budget; or
Put forward alternative policies, outline how much they will cost and how he is going to pay for them.

If Mr Abbott fails to outline the savings he would make to return to surplus, it will confirm his fiscal recklessness and the Liberal Party’s lack of economic credibility.

The following is a copy of a note I have just sent to our PM:
Dear Prime Minister, thank you for taking the time to email me about the latest Budget.
I think it was a great political document and with some good economic stuff.
I am concerned that it has not been well received by the Australian Electorate, and yes the mainstream media are giving your government a tough time.
It may be time to re-think your media strategy and those who have the job of selling the government’s good achievements.
While I do not know any of your media team, I believe they are all hard working people who methodically work through issues, discuss a response and reach a consensus. Unfortunately this approach is not effective.
As a metaphor I point to the fighter pilot. Fighter pilots do not aim at an enemy aircraft, they aim at where the aircraft will be when the bullets reach it. This skill is anticipation – all good car drivers have this skill – sadly many people do not.
As I watched the Labor media disaster roll on following the budget speech I could not help wondering why your minders did not have an instant response prepared for the following:
– a follow up media question on Roy Wyatt’s dumb question on budget surplus, why did you not just point out how often Labor has been in power over this period and the eco nomic situation at the time.
-Your team missed the immediate counter to Abbott’s deception of individual not family income of 150K.
It is said that prior planning and preparation prevents poor performance.
It would be a tragedy is an effective government was tipped out of power by a team of more proficient liars.

Eddie I read something recently about Windybumstle ending his stint at the ABC and Albrechtson has already left, but I can’t find it now. It did give the impression that He is leaving or has already left.

I’m also wondering what has happened about the new contract for the Australia Network which was supposed to be announced a week or two ago. Nothing. FM Kevin Rudd was overseas at the time and he ‘s supposed to make the announcement so it shouldn’t be long.
Trouble is, will it be reported widely for all to see, or just a 3-liner somewhere, and will it stay with the ABC or will The Old Foreigner get the contract.
I wouldn’t expect this government to do the old bugger any favours, but who knows.

IT IS a political custom Australian leaders make every effort to respect: when in New York, ensure there is time to say g’day to Rupert Murdoch. So it was that Julia Gillard dropped by for lunch last month on a day that just happened to be a special occasion for the ageing media mogul.

”Have you bought him an 80th birthday present?” a reporter cheekily asked the Prime Minister.

But what to give the man who has everything? How about a $223 million contract to broadcast Australia Network, the government’s overseas television station that reaches more than 34 million households in 44 countries throughout Asia, the Pacific and the Indian subcontinent. Would that do?

THE ABC is cautiously optimistic that it has retained the contract to run the government’s global service, the Australia Network, with a decision on the 10-year $223 million contract due today.

Australian News Channel’s Sky News (a joint venture of Nine Digital, a division of Nine Entertainment, Seven Media Group and British Sky Broadcasting) also submitted a tender to run the government-owned international television network administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Australia Network chief executive Bruce Dover sent a measured but positive email to key staff this week in anticipation of today’s decision about the network, which broadcasts into 45 markets in the Asia-Pacific region.

Sue, I was just reading that one too. Firstly as you say, criticise for political opportunism and then finish with the statement that Julia would be letting everyone down if she deprived Australia of a “national fairytale”.

Watched Insiders in full for the first time in a long time. Wasn’t bad and definitely was balanced and fair in both criticisms and defence of the government and especially in criticisms of Ltd News.

The only downer was Stutchbury. What a doom merchant and used either non-existent information to predict economic and social doom or obviously erroneous information.

At one stage in damning the set top box program to doom before it’s even been implemented, he attempted to put down the government by comparing past failures. He said Insulation scheme, solar energy rebate fiasco and I think he was about to say BER, but stopped short, proving that at least that was a successful scheme otherwise he would have mentioned it.

I’ll give him the solar scheme fiasco but nothing else, and in the scheme of things the solar scheme was not as bad as some of Howard’s failures that were lightly or never criticised.

The other good thing about today’s Insiders was they comprehensively covered and correct the $150,000 being rich meme that Ltd. News and the opposition are running as being stated by Swan and Gillard, which they never did, in fact the opposite. Insider criticised Ltd. News for running this falsehood and beating up the whole middle class welfare bit.

Not to be overlooked is the statement made by the Thai Foreign Minister…”a potential model for the region” he says. So this is what the MSM means when they say that the government “struggles with” the issue :roll:

Thai Foreign Minister, Kasit Piroyma, has lent his support to Australia’s bilateral agreement for asylum seekers with Malaysia, saying it is a potential model for the region in facing migration issues.

Mr Kasit made the comments at a joint press conference with Australian Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd, following official talks in Bangkok.

I went to school with Michael Stuchbury and later we played footy at the same club. But my main memories of him are his hidden racist attacks on Aborigines and ATSIC while editor at The Australian. So powerful were his attacks that Howard would adopt his editorials as his policy platforms. They were so uncannily similar.

It’s hard to imagine that Stuchbury was the only media critic of Howard over the Tampa episode. They obviously kissed and made up.

In all seriousness, this thread aims to highlight pathetic journalism whichever side of the fence it sits. It is to our advantage that the displays of unfair and dishonest media does not sit on the left.

At last someone in a position to know has told the Chilcot Inquiry in the United Kingdom something we all already knew: that the Blair Government’s so-called “dodgy dossier” on Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction was cooked up to make the case for war – a flagrant misuse of intelligence processes.>/i>

Household Assistance Scheme: The Facts
Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Senator Stephen Conroy today said the Household Assistance Scheme, being rolled out as part of the switchover to digital television, was assisting some of the most vulnerable people across Australia.

The Scheme was developed in consultation with Vision Australia and received support from a specialist Consumer Expert Group, including Media Access Australia and CHOICE (full membership attached).

Media Access Australia is an independent not-for-profit organisation focused on increasing access to media for people with disabilities. CEO Alex Varley said the Scheme is a model for how government programs should be run.

“It has been designed in consultation with the people it will help and is sensitive and responsive to their needs,” (Alex Varley, 12 May 2011, Media Release, Media Access Australia).

The accreditation and registration process for installations has been developed in consultation with the industry: the Australian Digital Television Industry Association, which is the appropriate industry body, and various industry working groups.

Senator the Hon Stephen Conroy
Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy
Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate
Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Digital Productivity

——————————————————————————–

Household Assistance Scheme: The Facts
Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Senator Stephen Conroy today said the Household Assistance Scheme, being rolled out as part of the switchover to digital television, was assisting some of the most vulnerable people across Australia.

The Scheme was developed in consultation with Vision Australia and received support from a specialist Consumer Expert Group, including Media Access Australia and CHOICE (full membership attached).

Media Access Australia is an independent not-for-profit organisation focused on increasing access to media for people with disabilities. CEO Alex Varley said the Scheme is a model for how government programs should be run.

“It has been designed in consultation with the people it will help and is sensitive and responsive to their needs,” (Alex Varley, 12 May 2011, Media Release, Media Access Australia).

The accreditation and registration process for installations has been developed in consultation with the industry: the Australian Digital Television Industry Association, which is the appropriate industry body, and various industry working groups.

Others weren’t so impressed:
portmacnews Port Macquarie News
RT @T_Bads: @portmacnews I can think of better things to do on a beautiful Sunday in #portmacquarie
and
portmacnews Port Macquarie News
RT @truuebluu: @portmacnews I’d rather run barefoot through an oyster lease than listen to Barnaby Joyce.

ME – Agree with you about Insiders Today. NB Did you notice how often Sutchbury coughed – a classic body language sign of lying . He knew that in being so partisan, taking the required News Ltd. pro Coalition line, he had to be dishonest. That need of his to remind us of his credentials, i.e. ‘thirty years reporting experience in this area,’ was immediately followed by a coughing fit. Similarly Joe Hockey with his hankie out, sweating like a pig in one clip there, was clearly under pressure from involuntary sweating on his face and neck; another classic sign of lying by a speaker.

This is the sort of stuff one knows instinctively. But I had a look at what the experts had to say about it on the net today after watching Sutchbury do the classic wiping of his eye which had teared up and helped him avoid looking directly at his audience, i.e. the camera, as he lied.

The delicious irony is that it’s all quite involuntary. It seems the body can not lie. I think that explains why Abbott has to turn away when challenged. He just can’t face a questioner asking very directly for the truth. Oddly, I don’t think he does it intentionally at all. His whole unconscious defence system responds reflexively, as it were, knowing that he’s cornered and can’t cover up.

I’d be interested if people can direct me to clips illustrating this, obviously with regard to Abbott and Co. but also if you can find one of our beloved PM actually caught in the act of lying about the carbon tax!

Read Alan Pease Patricia, I have two of his books that I got a long time ago and still pull out every now and again.

Just for interest you normally can’t tell from a single body language clue what a person’s emotion or stress factor is, it takes a cluster. Alan covers this. Stutchbury may have genuinely had a throat irritation like I have at the moment and Hockey may have been in a hot room and has a propensity to sweat easily.

But if in conjunction with coughing or sweating they touch their ears, especially pulling the ear lobe, not liking what they are hearing or run their hand/finger across their lip or touch their lip after speaking, not liking what they have just said, then it can be an indication of lying.

In adults these are more subtle versions of what children do when caught out in that they cover their mouth with their both hands or put their hands over their ears.

Oh by the way more on this and Pease also covers it, politicians are the consummate liars in that from very early on they learn, probably subconsciously, to show positive body language clues no matter what they are saying.

A pollie like Abbott that can’t lie without giving it away through their body language normally doesn’t get far. I think this is why Abbott stated upfront that he lies unless it’s written down. No body language in the written word.

Abbott is only getting away with his barrage of lies and deceits that his body language betrays him on most times because the media and his core supporters refuse to pull him up when it’s so obvious he’s sprouting utter crap he doesn’t believe.

This is one reason where I’m so scared of Abbott becoming leader of this country and then having to strut the world stage. Embarrassing and diplomatically disastrous don’t even begin to cover what Abbott will be like.

Is it just a coincidence that Mr. Abbott said that the PM needed a new election to make an honest woman of her and today’s headlines that scream, Julia will you marry me.

When I looked beyond the headlines, I found to my dismay, that Mr. Mathieson, was not asking the PM to marry him, thus becoming an honest woman. No, he was very clear in saying that both were happy with things the way they are.

I take it from today’s headlines, the MSM have little problem with the Labor budget and that Mr. Abbott has said nothing that is worth reporting.

Adrian, I too am an A Pease, fan (surprise, not!) … (used to train, managers in all three comms. areas) … including NVC – Non-Verbal Communication (body language is just a “gross” aspect of NVC) …

… and yes its all about “clusters” not individual body language …

… eg the angle of the body, tone of voice, movement of hands and more particularly facial expression – its the combination that is read – 70% of our comms are NVC – that’s why posting on blogs is so difficult and often needs more explanation (but we generally seem to manage!)

The other problem is misinterpretation … PWA, I noticed your mention of a “cough” as an indicator of lying … put simply and briefly, he may have had a cough, not enough to condemn! It has to be read with … say – blinking, or eye movement to the left … the “cluster” that we are talking about …

FYI, I watched The Insiders this morning and one thing struck me – Barrie Cassidy (you do know that “ie” is the female spelling of names, “y” the male?) interrupted the PM three times? – Cassidy generally does not interrupt “guests” -in NVC terms that tells me a lot about him and his “beliefs, feelings” towards the PM …

It is very difficult to “articulate” a message with just the written word … that’s why Pease has done such a great job with his books …

It is disconcerting for others though, if they know what you know! ie The Minister for War, Water, Finance & Fun often narrows her eyes when I say something that can be …. shall we say “misinterpreted” or has a “double meaning” … ;-)

Min, I just heard someone on Bolt say that there was not much detail about the scheme. Not much information about something that has been in operation since 2009.

Mr. Costello has not changed much. Still believes he was the greatest.

Do people realise that most of what the PM is being criticised for is what might happen. What has happened is being ignored. The misinformation is amazing.

Mr. Costello claimed that the PM came back from the wedding, saying we have a new benefited. That is extension of the family benefits for 16 to 19 year olds. Same is that it was so new, that it was an election promise.

Mr. Costello’s adoration of Mr. Abbott was sickening. I am glad that Mr. Bolt bought to the public’s notice, the demeanour of Mr. Turnbull during Mr. Abbott’s speech.

As for Mr. Michael Costa, I do not believe he covered himself in any glory whatever. What is the going fee on the Bolt show to turn your back on a life time beliefs.

“I take it from today’s headlines, the MSM have little problem with the Labor budget and that Mr. Abbott has said nothing that is worth reporting.”

Yes this aspect has me more than a little perplexed.

First thing that struck me and tweaked a curiosity (which the curiosity didn’t like – Flacco) was that a poll came out after the budget that wasn’t very favourable for the government with a very low acceptance compared to a very high condemnation. Now normally this would be screamed around the MSM and though it was mentioned, it was done so more in passing than screamed as Gillard doom as these things normally are.

Second thing is that much of the MSM concentrated on Abbott’s speech trying to sell it rather than attacking the contents or aspects of budget. Yes there were attacks on certain parts but the main one was the utterly stupid $150,000 class war meme started by Ltd. News and aped by Abbott, which appeared to have rapidly fallen flat and was also widely condemned as the very poor journalism it was.

It appeared that after the false $150,000 being rich statement was splashed about the right wing media quickly turned back to praising Abbott’s budget reply, even trotting out Costello who knows Abbott’s effort was one of the worst ever, but still unconvincingly attempted to paint it as a masterpiece.

Methinks despite the polls Abbott is not doing very well and the (factual) negabore label is resonating with the public so his props are trying harder to sell a woeful Abbott as something great. But as the saying goes, purse-sows ear.

ME, you mean those polls that have samples of 790 and ask funny questions that we do not get to see.

I believe Mr. Abbott might have one less bullet to shoot. I am not too sure I like the PM solution to the refugee problem but I do think most of the boats will stop coming, and those who do, will not set a foot in this country. Now that is something that Mr Howard did not do. I wonder if anyone has notice the religion and nationally of those who will take the boat people’s place.

It might not be very nice but those who condemn the boats the most will only care that they have stopped, not how.

With such a small percentage of families (15%) having an income of $150,000 I’m finding that the remaining 85% don’t buy Abbott’s and news.com’s claim that the the 15% are poor and hard done by.

Here’s an admission: My family earn well in excess of that and sometimes I have to scratch around for a dollar in the shadows of pay day but that’s because I waste my money now and again. My first pay – way back when – was $15.60 a week. I paid $5 board and my own health insurance yet I still had a few dollars left over at the end of the week.

What I’m trying to say, but not making a good job of it, is that families who earn over $150,000 a year are not poor. The problem with most of them is that they over commit.

I was listening to Sky today and one of the regular commentators stated that Abbott made a very ‘clever’ reply to the budget – caught Gillard on the hop – then proceeded to explain that Abbott’s problem is that he said nothing about the economy. I fail to see how this equates with the description of ‘clever’.

Migs, which gets us back to the wrongness of the Howard-handouts – the government giveth, but Heaven help anyone who tries to take it away. It also gets us back to who Howard saw as worthy of assistance.

http://intercontinentalcry.org/censored-fmgs-great-native-title-swindle/This is a record of a supposed ‘native title’ meeting staged by the Australian iron ore mining company, Fortescue Metals Group (FMG). It shows how FMG, its agents, a lawyer and an “opportunist splinter faction” tried to divide the local Yindjibarndi community in order to gain support for the company’s planned $8.5 billion Solomon Hub project, in the Pilbara region.

The video demonstrates the unscrupulous actions of a company trying to bully traditional owners into a land use ‘Agreement’ that will see massive disturbance of their land and swindle several generations of Yindjibarndi people

http://yindjibarndi.org.au/yindjibarndi/CENSORED!
The original posting of “FMG’s Great Native Title Swindle” has been censored from Vimeo due to legal threats from FMG. It received 12,900 views in 9 days.

and Crikey has reported on the legal action:-http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/04/14/twiggys-legal-team-native-title-video-incites-racial-hatred/Twiggy’s legal team: native title video ‘incites racial hatred’
by Tom Cowie
Lawyers representing Fortescue Metal Group (FMG) and CEO Andrew Forrest have sent legal letters to a video hosting website requesting they take down a controversial clip of a native title meeting held in Roebourne last month despite issuing a denial to Crikey yesterday that they’d been in touch with Vimeo.

In an email from FMG’s legal team to Vimeo, Fortescue say the video is defamatory, misleading, “incites racial hatred” and is “designed to intimidate.”

Uploaded by Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation, the video attracted 12,000 plays in nine days before being removed on Tuesday by the New York-based video hosting site in response to the threats.

It appears that there is a perception aboard that we are worse off, especially those earning $150,000 or more.
Now, this perception is hard to reconcile to reality. It is said by those in the know that the reality is those on $150,000 income taking into such things as tax cuts and wage rises over the last four years has actually increased by at $9000 per annum.
This should be enough to compensate for the rise in food, which have already begun to come down, caused by the disastrous weather in the early months of this year across many states.
It should more than enough to pay the higher fuel costs caused by the troubles in the middle east. As for electricity, which the higher cost of coal among other things, but still among the cheapest in the world should not pose any problems because of the growth in income.
Now is it being proposed that if people perceive they are worse off, the government should ignore the reality and give these people handouts to make them feel better.
Is the Labor government responsible for these irrational perceptions.
Or is it the government’s responsibility to ignore the feelings of these people and target government money towards those in need and for the good of all.

The mining tycoon Gina Rinehart is not the first person in her family to have looked at the idea of investing in the media.

After flicking through a book published by Lang Hancock in 1979, it seems that Rinehart’s recent purchase of shares in the Ten Network and the owners of this newspaper could have quite possibly made her late father very proud.

Hancock in his book, Wake Up Australia, pitched several ideas on how ”we can change the situation so as to limit the power of government”.

Advertisement: Story continues below ”It could be broken by obtaining control of the media and then educating the public,” Hancock wrote

It appears the “set-top” box issue is being given the same treatment in the media as “pink bats” and BER.
A good policy is being denigrated by the media and is being portrayed as a “waste of money” or “Labor spending gone mad”.
According to the media, set-top boxes are being pushed on people by an opt out policy rather than an opt in policy. This is pure Liberal Party spin and media laziness in accepting the propaganda.
In “Political homeless” the truth :

“It should be opt-in rather than opt-out or no-opt, with information available for people who don’t speak a lot of English or keep up with latest developments in public policy.”

It has been explained perfectly well to all those who are eligible via numerous Centrelink letters and they can choose whether to take up the offer or not if they fit certain criteria.
Such as they have no other means of watching tv other than their existing old television.

This is not new and has been rolled out in Mildura and country Victoria with no problems and was definitely “opt in”.

So the brains trust of the Labor Media team will respond the same way – duck and cover rather than take up the media fight.

luna-lava,
agree totally and why don’t Labor take up the challenge to Tony Abbott of why is it okay for Victorian pensioners to get assistance but NSW pensioners should not.

But also it is Bad Journalism and I would like to know why,

Lazy,Deceitful,Complicit,Ignorant Journalists (take your pick of the descriptor) are enabling Tony Abbott to spread lies. Where is the journalist who will stand up to Abbott and challenge him on the veracity of the issue.

Sue I saw something on this on ABC News yesterday where they interviewed a Christmas Island official and someone else.

I cannot believe it as it was Christmas Island that was putting up a stink about the amount of refugees being housed there and now they are worried because they will no longer stay on Christmas Island but be transferred to other countries.

Yet again it’s a Labor government that is damned if it does and damned if it doesn’t.

It’s funny commentators who last year were claiming Gillard’s minority government would be incapable of achieving any reform are now berating it for this ”missed opportunity”. What were they hoping for: a truckload of tough measures that didn’t stand a chance of getting through?

I am currently in a state of semi-shock. This was actually really and truly, hand on heart printed by the OO…

ALP best manager of money, history shows

WAYNE Swan is a tougher Treasurer than Peter Costello was in the final term of the Howard government, when the massive proceeds of the first mining boom were being passed on to voters as generous handouts.
If Labor were spending at the same rate as the Coalition was then, the budget would be heading for a deficit of more than $20 billion in 2012-13, rather than a surplus of $3.5bn.

I would hate for anyone to miss this one. This comes courtesy of the Facebook group “Boycott Network 10 and their Ultra Right-wing Andrew Bolt show”

Andrew Bolt has stated: There was much gleeful reporting on the Left of what some clearly hoped would be a successful campaign by a handful of young Facebook activists against advertisers on The Bolt Report. It was claimed that TeleChoice, for instance, had pulled its ads in protest against my allegedly extreme politics.

I’m not sure that I belong here at this site among all you young activists, intolerant lefties and ‘stilfers!’

It’s the ‘stilfing’ I object to most strongly. I ‘ve long suspected what you get up to. Stalking us sick old folk, then luring us here to get us to spend our pension money on coffee and red wine. Outdoors too, and in broad daylight.

I’m so glad that nice Mr. Bolt has exposed and named you before I became an addict. I can’t understand why I didn’t see it before.

I had to read this one from Bolt thrice “condoning the stilfing of debate or attacking the values of the great majority to appease an intolerant minority.” For a moment there I was thinking that he was talking about his own blog.

ME, I watched that interview too. The thought that come to my mind was how that person would treat the people in her care. She definitely had no respect for them.

Her main gripe appear to be that they had money and knew there family members were coming.

What I fail to see how those who flee are only those who have no money. Surely the fact that they are in this position and have money proves the desperate plight they are in. Money in their own country does not protect them from harm.

I also cannot see why it would be hard to believe that whole families could be at risk. Why would not family members know what was going on. Why would this make them not refugees.

There is much going on which is not nice but I failed to see what that show proved last night.

CU re “Her main gripe appear to be that they had money and knew there family members were coming.” Which is as you say is completely irrelevant to any claim to asylum. One could be as rich as Croesus but is still be in fear of persecution..as many Jews in Nazi Germany would have been able to testify to.

Mr. Abbott’s claim that the price on carbon will be many times worse than the GST. It is a miracle but ten news and other current affairs actually said he was wrong, that it would be a fifth of the GST.

They did forget to add, this fifth was before any compensation.

The station also disagree with the number of miners jobs at risk was nowhere what Mr. Abbott claimed.

I do not know if anyone was listening but it was a pleasant change to hear what he says, challenge.

We have Mr. Joyce screaming at a meeting which was attended by 400 to three thousand, that Mr. Oakeshott was finished.

Do the coalition really think that a poorly attended meeting where bullshit is sprayrd, means they have the power to put an end to the members career. Hoe many voted against Mr. Oakeshott last election?

The PM description of Mr. Abbott, “Tony Abbott’s…like the kid with the baseball cap on backwards going past, shouting a slogan and spraying some graffiti.” applies to many in the Coalition.

I believe the message they are attempting to convey will be as immature as that of the boy in the back to front baseball cap.

…………….He refers to that cash surplus of the Howard government as “70 billion in net assets”, displaying a difficulty in understanding just what an asset is. One would expect a government in office during a cyclical boom to accumulate a budget surplus, as the Howard government did, but it did so by leaving us with a severe deficit in our infrastructure and in our institutional, environmental and social capital. The Howard government depleted our assets.
To put the basic arithmetic as simply as possible, we cannot go on letting middle-class welfare squeeze our public expenditure, at the cost of our government services and public investment. If we are to prosper we need a mix of public and private services and of public and private investment. A “left” leaning government would be inclined to sustain welfare outlays, using taxes to pay for public services. A “right” leaning government would be inclined to finance public services out of cuts to welfare.
For a Liberal Party leader, Abbott is a strange creature: he is prepared to defend the welfare state, is hostile to market mechanisms to reduce greenhouse pollution, and seems to have great difficulty in understanding the fundamentals of economics. Can the Liberal Party not give us someone who understands economics and who embraces the party’s principles and values? ………….

“…Most of that shift happened in the Howard government’s last five years, when it gave big tax cuts to those on high incomes, who were also getting the biggest increases in incomes. Even on 1990s data, the Luxembourg Income Study, funded by Western governments, ranked Australia as one of the most unequal countries in the West.

However, the pie itself grew massively over those 12 years. The bureau estimates all income groups became substantially better off, with incomes for those in the broad middle growing by 52 to 54 per cent. Income for those at the bottom grew 46 per cent.

The figures imply that almost half the growth in income in the Howard years went into the pockets of the top fifth of households, measured after adjustment for family size. The figures also show Melbourne is now the third-poorest capital city based on median income, behind Canberra, Darwin, Perth, Brisbane and Sydney.”

Ahead of tonight’s Budget in Reply speech the Institute of Chartered Accountants has revealed that the two Perth accountants who advised Tony Abbott on the $50 billion of savings he put forward in the last election remain under investigation.

Geoff Kidd and Cyrus Patell of WHK Horwath signed a statement endorsing the Coalition’s costings released two days before the 2010 election despite promising the Coalition in a separate letter to make no inquires about “the reasonableness of otherwise of the assumptions used”.

A later examination by Treasury found up to $11 billion of errors in the costings including double-counting and purporting to spend money from funds already allocated.

The announcements of the last couple of days have Griener all over them.

The police are up in arms over wage rises.

The ferries are to go, not sold but leased out, which I believe is the same.

Yesterday a ban on any new power station staff. How that one goes, I am waiting to see. A large amount of the work that is carried out in power houses is contacted out and performed by casual workers. I assume he is going to curtail maintenance.

Yes Pip, I seen it a couple of days ago. The MSM have more important things to report about the imaginary wedding.

It is not quite honest to label something as an audit when it clearly was not. I will admit the wording was a bit fuzzy but the intent was for it to appear as an audit.

Poor Mr. Mathieson, he must of got bored while away and thought he was passing time with some of the reporters. Bet he keeps his mouth shut next time.

The last couple of days have seen many articles questioning the Howard years and supporting the budget. We can only hope this is the turn about we have been waiting for.

Mr. Abbott has no where to go now, but to keep on making allegations that will become more outrageous.

As people start to realise their family benefits are actually increasing, as parents with disabled children find they has more assistance and the boats stop coming, Mr. Abbott will be found wanting.

PM Gillard will keep doing as she has been doing, getting most of her legislation through the house.

I am sure that Mr. Harvey is going to take up the governments invitation to make a tender for the set top box.

We are hearing from the bush how they cannot wait for their broadband and as time goes on, this will become a reality for most.

After June, Mr. Abbott does not have much of a voice in the Senate and very little in the lower house.

While we have the Vatican announcing that we have a duty to address climate change. We have Europe and other countries beginning putting surcharges on our goods, a price on carbon will become more plausible.

PM Gillard is correct, things will get worse before they get better. I see more reasons why they should get better than worse.

Yes Eddie, Abbott knows that he can’t continue with this constant negabore strategy indefinitely and sooner rather than later he has to produce substance and lucidity, and whenever he attempts that he fails miserably or is found to be cooking the books and lying.

Queue ToM.

In typical wingnut projection whilst claiming the government has no substance and is all spin it is Abbott who continuously illustrates he and his party have not substance and are nothing but hollow spin condensed into three word slogans.

As the links show Abbott and the Coalition in charge of this country would be a long term disaster for it and heaven help us if they ruled through an economic downturn and/or a series of natural disasters. Howard was extremely lucky as both natural circumstances and convenient world events fell into his lap as he ran down the country, something that was flagged halfway through his reign as being unsustainable, yet ignored anyway.

The 19 new second-release sites include Bacchus Marsh and South Morang in Victoria; inner north Brisbane, Springfield Lakes and Toowoomba in Queensland; Riverstone and Coffs Harbour in NSW; Modbury and Prospect in SA; Victoria Park, Geraldton, and Mandurah in WA; Casuarina in the Northern Territory; and Gungahlin in the ACT.

While Malcolm Turnbull makes another show of assassinating Mike Quigley’s character, there is some defence for Mr. Quigley.

I can’t understand why people would even consider buying anything from Harvey Norman’s. I think that technology is just gadgets and once you have the things that you need, then isn’t it just a matter of the same thing with a different cover. Sucked in by consumerism.

I also bought lemon set top boxes from Dick Smith. Much better are to be found on line. They are also better.

I have cut and paste the below article in full.

Do not forget this scheme has been in operation since 2009 and I assume supported by the Coalition.

It does provide much more than a set top box. I am afraid with digital, you can not get away with a wire coat hanger as an antennae, and if you are in places like I am on the Central Coast, you are lucky if an expert can tune you in.

“If the Rudd Government botches the switch-over from analogue to digital television, viewers of rural and regional South Australia will be among the first in the nation to be left with blank screens.

Television plays an important part in the lives of most Australians, particularly during the holiday season and if the Government messes this up the outrage will be quite rightly palpable.

Imagine during an exciting moment in an Adelaide Test match, one-dayer or Twenty20, or during the Australian Open, the news or a movie, your picture drops out, not to return.

This type of scenario is a possibility if the Government turns off the analog signal before communities and, most importantly, viewers are ready for digital-only transmission.

Under the timetable set by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, South Australians in the Riverland Mt Gambier and Spencer Gulf regions, will closely follow Mildura as the country’s first digital switch-over guinea pigs.

Analog switch-off is scheduled in these markets some time between July 1 and December 31, 2010. Switch-over in Adelaide, along with all other capital cities, is set to occur between July 1 and December 31, 2013.

Setting the timetable is the easy part; the hard part is providing communities and viewers with the levels of support they need to ensure potentially thousands of Australians are not disenfranchised by this decision.

Senator Conroy himself concedes that if he gets this wrong it will represent a “significant miscalculation and stuff up”.

But a disturbing fundamental flaw in the Government’s plan is its refusal to outline what minimum benchmarks in terms of take-up have to be met before the analog signal is switched off in each region. For example, does Senator Conroy consider it acceptable for five per cent of viewers to be left without a picture, or even 10 per cent? We just don’t know. At the moment all we can do is take him at his word – “trust me, everything will be OK”.

As its stands much needs to be done to ensure Australia is ready. Infrastructure, including more than 1000 transmission sites across the country, needs to be upgraded, many of which are owned by communities who are wondering just who will foot the bill.

Blackspots have to be identified and eliminated and the public needs to be properly informed about what they will need to do to ensure they can watch digital television.

One gentleman who recently contacted me outlined that despite his best endeavours and considerable expense, he is still unable to watch the ABC on free-to-air digital. He spent $1000 on a digital set-top box and to upgrade his external aerial, yet is unable to get a picture despite living just 5km from a transmission site.

At least now he has the fall-back of watching the ABC in analog, but he won’t have that option after switch-over and I am certain countless others would be in a similar situation.

The Government also needs to finalise a strategy to assist the economically disadvantaged to upgrade their analog equipment to digital. The elderly and others may also require technical assistance and support to ensure their digital equipment is properly installed and working.

After conducting his own test, Senator Conroy concluded that installing a set-top box “is not that easy”. It has been suggested that free set-top boxes might be provided to pensioners and low income earners. with in-home installation assistance offered, as has occurred in the UK.

But Australia is a huge country and getting us ready for switch-over requires a lot more than just talk. It requires specific, practical action backed by appropriate levels of additional funding, which will have to be allocated in or before the next Budget if Senator Conroy’s deadlines are to be met.

The Coalition fully recognises the undeniable benefits that digital television brings, including better picture and sound quality and extra free-to-air channels to watch, and that is why in government it laid a solid foundation for Australia’s digital future.

We are also aware that if the Government fails to do the remaining hard work that is required to ensure Australia is switch-over ready, it will be viewers in areas like rural South Australia who will suffer as a result.

Senator Nick Minchin is Shadow Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. Regular columnist Alexander Downer will be back next week.

Sue @ 4.46pm, Isn’t it a funny thing. When Hockey and Robb presented their Budget “costings” they had them “audited ‘as a lay person would understand it’ “, by accounting firm Howarth in Perth, because, the Coalition said, the Treasury couldn’t be trusted. The two Accountants who did the “audit” are now being investigated.

CU, Bob Brown is coming into his own and more so…media, be afraid, be very afraid. A man who calls it straight. Also Tony Windsor today. Both men require the media to think, the media will have to stop all the Master Chef type dumbing down and do better.

Now something a little different. Being on holiday (North coast NSW) I was listening to a local radio interview with the PM. Among other issues they discussed that the PM was in the region to turn on the NBN in Armidale tomorrow. Now the interviewer commented that the take up rate for the NBN in Armidale is 90%. So lets see if the MSM headlines this in the coverage tomorrow.

Pip @ 5.17pm I like both very much. These two do not have to try to be sincere and genuine, they just are. Irrespective of the politics, when listening to both Brown and Windsor they give the impression that they are both honorable gentlemen.

Anyone watch Chris Uhlman on 7.30 make a dog’s breakfast out of interviewing Bob Brown. Interview is not the right word. He seemed to be trying to debate with him – interrupted every time BB tried to give an answer, talking over him so that at times neither could be heard. My fourteen y.o. grandson could do a better job of interviewing. Or debating for that matter.

I must be losing it. I thought that Mr. Brown managed to get over the top of Mr. Uhlmann. Towards the end of the interview, Mr. Uhlmann gave up asking questions and talking over Mr. Brown when he was answering.

Mr. Bolt also has concerns re the judge that appear last night on Q and A. Appears she is wrong in having views that he goes not agree with.

I am sure he would also find problem with Ms. Anna Rose from the Youth Climate Coalition, that manage to put Abetz in his place.

……………………………………………………

“Oh, dear. I don’t think Greens leader Bob Brown did well under the questioning of Chris Uhlmann. He is exposed as a shonky salesman of economic nonsense and deceptive flim-flam with no understanding of what it takes to keep the economy ticking over. ………

He cannot explain what he’d do to make up for the loss of the $50 billion he’d cost by closing our coal industry. He cannot quantify the cost of withdrawing incentives to businesses to invest. He is grossly, grossly irresponsible – and that is putting it as its mildest…………”

………….Now, you may argue that a judge just follows the law and never her personal inclinations or ideological beliefs.

In a perfect world, that might even be true.

You may also console yourself with the thought that there is a long tradition that once someone becomes a judge, that person tries particularly hard not just to be politically neutral, but to seem so, too.

Not so Hampel, though. Not on Q&A, where she appeared very fashionably dressed and very fashionably earnest.

Here are some of the opinions she delivered.

On having an early election, which the Opposition wants, given Labor’s pre-election lies and post-election bungling: “I don’t think we should be talking about elections again . . .”

On this Parliament, where the Opposition opposes some of the worst ideas ever put up by a government, including a carbon dioxide tax: “It’s far too partisan.”

On limiting welfare payments to people on $150,000, as outlined in the Gillard Government’s Budget: “I find it difficult when we look at the disparity between rich and poor in this country to think that those in the top 20 per cent do need welfare subsidy.”

On the chaplains-in-schools program started by the Howard government: “We shouldn’t have chaplains of any denomination in state schools.”

On a tribunal ruling to pay some women workers more, based in part on a Left-wing myth that women are still paid less for the same work: “I don’t think we can justify an inequitable system where people are being paid less for the same work because of their gender, and so I think this is one of those adjusting a long-term and now recognised inequity, and so we have to find the money to deal with it.”

On needing to stop the people smugglers, as the Opposition demands: “It is disgraceful to politicise human misery.”

And so on.

I’d guess Hampel didn’t even realise her comments were so political. I’ve found many prominent people of the Left so rarely meet conservatives that they often don’t know there’s another side to their argument. ……….

……When judges are appointed from political backgrounds, as is now common, do they even know how political they really are? Do they even care, since Hampel can now join a political chat show without anyone expressing surprise or dismay?

And if judges can now be openly political, should we or our representatives be allowed to vote for them? Or against?

Then there’s this. Now that Hampel has joined in the political debate and I have objected to her views, would I be right to worry should I ever come before a Leftist judge just like her?

I mean, a judge who shares all her unexamined political assumptions—or remembers with resentment this article by a nasty conservative? …………

patriciawa, I watched the Bob Brown interview and Uhlmann is a disgrace. He didn’t like the answers and his racing speech over the top was very annoying; he couldn’t let Bob finish answering a question before he interrupted.
When he quoted something that Bob said years ago he thought that was his gotcha for the day. Trouble was he left off the end of the sentence and Bob finished it for him.
Does he get his homework from the Liberals files I wonder.

It is puzzling how something that was so correct in the past, has become so wrong today.

Reading what the Coalition said back in 2009, we could be forgiven for thinking that Mr. Conroy might have filched Coalition policy. He definitely followed their advice.

“Mr BRIGGS (5:09 PM) —…. It is right that the government does help Australians, particularly those at the lower end of the income scale, to switch over to digital TV. I think that in the future we will see more assistance given to this area. In my previous role I had a little bit to do with the government’s views on the digital switch-over. I was always of the view that the government would be required at some point to help those at the lower end to switch over to ensure that we had a safe and successful switch-over to digital TV without too many missing out on the television programs which they love and have grown accustomed to. Taking away coverage of the Crows in Adelaide, as the Deputy Speaker knows, would be quite a step for government to undertake.

But we should not just help people on the lower scale of income; we must look at the areas which have traditionally found getting TV reception difficult. My electorate of Mayo has two such areas.

Geez Jamie – you want more assistance, keep that to yourself, son! He continues…
they cannot because there is no digital signal. It is very important that the government—and I urge Senator Conroy and those on the other side to consider this—provide an assistance package for these sorts of regional areas, largely, who are facing these challenges. I think it is important, for the integrity of the switch-over, that we help in areas in which people find difficulty in coming up with the financial resources needed for the digital switch-over. It might not just be those on lower incomes who require assistance, but many people might require assistance to upgrade.

and he ends:

Television is now such an important part of all of our lives that to leave some Australians, particularly those in my electorate, without the benefit of digital TV, or indeed without the benefit of TV, would be a disaster. I urge the government to consider this in the next little while and not wait until they have seen the first results from Mildura and other parts of the country. They know there is a problem; they should act on the problem. In the scale of things, the cost is not significant, but for these local communities the cost is absolutely significant. The federal government can and should help out in these areas.

Ah well. That was then, this is now. Who needs consistency, especially when your leader wants to get out some sound bites about waste and mismanagement….

Grogs Gamut also had a say about the Mining Council and the Energy Supply Association of Australia reports in the Oz. and their dire warnings.

I wondered, given the MCA and various chairmen and CEOs of carbon heavy companies are predicting the end of life as we know it (including poor Whyalla being wiped of the face of the earth), how the share prices in these companies has been going since the announcement on 24 Feb by Gillard that a fixed carbon price (or carbon tax if you must), was being introduced.

If the carbon tax was a killer for the industry, logically you would expect that since that announcement, the share price in those companies would be gloom and doom – unless you think people will invest in a company even though they believe it will be pretty well trashed next year

I think I might listen to QT in the Senate next time they sit. I am sure we are going to see Mr. Minchin in the hot seat. Mr. Conroy can be cutting when he feels the need to.

I love the way Mr. Shorten got his own back last night, when it was pointed out that the non politician on the panel was better getting Labor’s message across than the politicians. Shorten quick retort was that sometimes the interviewee is often a better journalist, than the one doing the interview. (words to that effect). By the look on someones face, the retort hurt.

Mr. Shorten also showed some frustration, close to anger at a couple of the stupid questions. He then apologizes to the questioner, saying he recognises that many have the same view. A wonderful backhander.

It is time for Labor politicians to stop being polite. It is time were appropriate to serve a few back, while at all times remaining cool, calm and collected.

More support for Labor. I fail to understand why there is such a negative perception of this government in the community.

“Harder budget cuts would risk economy: Treasury

The new treasury secretary has defended the federal budget, saying harder or earlier cuts could have damaged Australia’s economy and resulted in extensive job losses….

..”My own sense is that to do significantly – and I emphasise significantly – more to tighten fiscal policy in the short run would inject another risk – that of slowing the economy excessively and undermining the prospect of achieving fiscal consolidation,” he told the assembled economists and economic journalists.

Dr Parkinson also defended the Federal Government’s stimulus spending during the financial crisis, saying it was critical to provide sufficient stimulus to avoid recession and widespread job losses…

…In response to criticisms (including from some of those in the audience) that the budget had not cut deeply enough, he said it was the fastest deficit reduction in the past 40 years, and to cut much harder or earlier would have risked damaging the economy, thus further reducing tax revenues and resulting in no real improvement to the budget bottom line…..

Treasury estimates the stimulus saved around 200,000 jobs, and he says the loss of those positions would not have been temporary, but would have led to long-term unemployment similar to that now seen in the US, or in Australia during the early 1990s……

CU, the government must take the gloves off and hit back, hard, and soon. Tony Abbott and The Australian, or should I say, all the ltd. news papers are producing so much garbage with dozens of articles every day, most of them repetitive, and all of them derogatory.
Malcolm Turnbull has also put his oar in again, attacking Mike Quigley and the NBN, while he says he’s not.
They carp about the “carbon tax”, the “illegal” boat people, the “waste”, the “debt”, the “deficit”, the “mining tax”, the NBN etc.,

Tony Abbott simply doesn’t recognise the government’s right to govern and has no respect for the voters. In his mind it’s a travesty and he should have won.

The perception of Mr. Abbott appears to be that he is decisive and tough. that he a good fighter.

I fear that the perception of Labor is that they are weak and indecisive. This is a view I do not share, as I find Labor focused and decisive. I have never heard anyone that has sat down with PM say she was a push over.

The only way for Labor to change this perception is to challenge Mr. Abbott and his supporters at every opportunity. Labor must take a stand and not be polite or afraid to say that the Opposition are incorrect or even lying.

Every time Mr. Abbott or his ilk make incorrect statements, they must be immediately challenged.

This is the only way Labor can change the perception of being weak. The public do not have much respect for those who do not stand up for themselves.

What Labor must not do is waste time complaining about the MSM or Mr. Abbott. They also must not play the blame game. They can counteract Mr. Abbott by asking him for facts.

CU the coalition know that their distortions will get a run in the media for at least 24 hours before the government can correct the message.
When a response is made to one of Abbott’s scripted lies, it is always a catch up, which means it does not get the same media emphasis.
So an irresponsible opposition can gain momentum saying anything it believes will provide negative coverage for the government.
Set-top boxes are just the latest example of the hypocrisy.

I just read this over at the Whirlpool site, and I think it sums up what I’ve been trying to say for a while now, and what many of these later comments are saying. The scrutiny of the government compared with the free pass handed the opposition

Clever, I’ll grant that, but it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

However the issue here is the UnOz’s acceptance of the claims word for word. There is no questioning of the validity of the assumptions or the logic. There is no spin, no bias, nothing that would could possibly be claimed to be the above.

Why not?

If as some claim the media outlet is engaging in legitimate skepticism, investigative journalism, asking the hard questions, then shouldn’t the same principles be applied to the claims made by Turnbull ? The same spotlight, the same scrutiny? But they aren’t.

Again why not?

Simply because the intention of the Turnbull claims is in accord with the UnOz’s agenda, the destruction of NBNCo, and the use of the same to gain power. No more, no less. And fair enough, but at the least it should shoot holes in any UnOz defenders/critics of the NBN who use the articles published as creditable and unbiased reasons to question and stop the NBN.

So how is this the fault of the BER, or the government, or their policies. Well, in no way, in fact, it is the government policies which have saved those from any ‘alleged’ (yes, that word is used liberally in the article, as, as far as we know, nothing at all may have happened

‘The ABCC also alleges Mr Bollas contravened the Fair Work Act by taking adverse action against another person who was not in a union.’

Who cares though, as long as we can fit bad news and BER in the one line, it’s worthy of ‘news’ I guess. I wonder why the title wasn’t ‘Fair Work Act Stops Bullies in Tracks’?? It is just as valid in the context of the story. And more accurate, as the BER did not actually bully anyone.

Continuing on my morning rant of the oo and WTF!!. I had a look at the headline Pip mentioned

Boom-to-bust warning on China: Treasury chief Martin Parkinson

Now, knowing how we are basically relying on China to get us back to surplus, this is worrying. Trouble is, it’s not ‘boom or bust’ as the headline says, in fact, the story is more about how the new Treasury chief is basically arguing AGAINST a rate rise in case China slows it’s eceonomy (wonder why THAT wasn’t the headline. Also, nothing about bust either, simply a ‘slower return to budget surplus’.

“My own sense is that doing significantly more to tighten fiscal policy in the short-run would inject another risk: that of slowing the economy excessively.”

He said this would result in a slower return to budget surplus.

Dr Parkinson dismissed the idea that the government’s budget made interest rate increases more likely.

Also wonder if our friend yomm is reading, and wonder how this statement fits his DPI rants?

He said that if the government had withdrawn its stimulus spending more rapidly, as some had argued it should, the result would have been growth in this financial year lower than the expected 2.25 per cent and the deficit might have been bigger.

He defended the level of the government’s stimulus spending during the global financial crisis, saying it had saved jobs.

EXCLUSIVE Michael McKenna, Queensland political editor SWISS mining giant Xstrata is expected to threaten the closure of two of its Queensland plants to escape an imminent deadline for tougher emissions standards.

but click through to the story, and we get a different take on things

…………despite long-held plans to shut the operations under a corporate restructure.

So, they were always planning to close it, but are now planning to blame the Carbon Price.

And the oo just happened to leave out that titbit on their main page story, until you actually go to the story.

What a fortuitous coincidence (if you were perhaps running a campaign against said Carbon Pricing)

Tom @ 6.36am..and here is a slightly different take on that same item.

Swiss miner Xstrata may threaten to close two of its plants in Queensland – a copper smelter in Mount Isa and refinery in Townsville – as the company seeks to skirt a looming deadline for stringent emissions standards, according to a report by The Australian.

Rumours have circulated that Xstrata had been considering closing the plants as part of a corporate restructuring, but the company is now weighing the impact of fast-tracking the closures, the report said.

So there you have it – Xstrata may threaten and the whole thing is only a rumour anyway.

In 2010, Xstrata abandoned its $600 million Wandoan coal mine in a move intended to pressure the government of then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd against introducing the resources super-profits tax, according to The Australian.

Xstrata returned to the Wandoan mine when the RSPT plan was cancelled.

So let’s find out what is really happening at the Wandoan mine.

•Queensland Land Court Directions Hearing in Brisbane on 4 May 2011
Xstrata Coal today attended a directions hearing at the Queensland Land Court in response to objections lodged relating to the Company’s application for a Mining Lease for its Wandoan Coal Project.

Objections to the granting of the Mining Lease and the Draft Environmental Authority for the Project included issues relating to: water management; existing State and Federal legislative approval processes; road access to landholder properties; and the management of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the mining and subsequent burning of coal from the proposed Wandoan coal mine.

There you have it, although Xstrata’s Wandoan mine was used as a threat in 2010 against Rudd’s RSPT the truth of the matter is that Xstrata had and in fact is still having problems with their Environmental Plan for the site.

But Friends of the Earth have claimed the project has been poorly planned based upon high coal export prices.

“We’ve been watching this project for a number of years and could see that it was not viable without the inflated coal export prices we saw during the boom. Xstrata are using the Government’s Resource Profits Tax as a scapegoat to cover up for their own poor planning” said spokes-person for Friends of the Earth Brisbane, Eleanor Smith.

btw, apart from the article mentioned by Sue, it appears that ltdnews has decided to ignore the NBN today as you predicted. Whats the bet when they do get around to it, pork barrelling will be their theme?

Grog also has a good post up about munchkin and the set-top box ‘debacle’

Tom, and the fact that Xstrata are still trying to sort out their shoddy planning through the Queensland Court provides proof as to Eleanor Smith’s opinion.

Exactly it, the government is doing Everything that Minchin suggested. Of course the elderly need assistance with the thing my elderly mum would not have a clue where so start and if she cannot buy it in Glenferrie Road Hawthorn then she does without because she can now only catch the tram on her good days and none of those happen over Winter. Sigh..

The ABC’s Media Watch caught the Daily Telegraph lying big time. They ran a story about how the 2011 Budget was going to cost a particular family about $900 because of the Carbon Tax.

Two things:

1. The numbers were very rubbery and about 5 times as much as the expected costs per family; and
2. As the Carbon Tax wasn’t coming into effect in the 2011/2012 financial year, how can they run a story that these costs will be incurred this financial year?

Tom, you’re too nice. It’s pure bullshit and one of the billions of examples that show we do not have an honest media in this country. If Abbott was PM and if Abbott had introduced a Carbon Tax I’m positive that the story wouldn’t have been run. And if so, spun out of all proportion like this one was but with a different spin.

As Labor, the Greens and the independents thrash out a carbon price, Alan Jones has thrown his support behind another anti-carbon group that’s invoking science and history against taxation

Thr “Galileo Movement ” is the latest astro-turfing effort.

Case Smit and John Smeed, two retirees with backgrounds in science and engineering respectively, are the men behind the Galileo Movement.

“We care about freedom, security, the environment, humanity and our future” — and we don’t want to pay a carbon tax. Last year, Smit and Smeed organised an Australian tour by Lord Monckton, “famous,” they write “for explaining the scientific data, the statistics and the UN bureaucracy’s political fabrication of global warming alarm”.

Frustrated by limited media coverage of Monckton’s visit, infuriated by the alleged misrepresentation of climate science, and livid at the prospect of a carbon tax, they established the Galileo Movement:

For more well-off households that just purchased big plasma screens, calling out the antenna guy to fix things up for digital isn’t a huge deal, but for the households this scheme will target, this additional cost is far beyond what could be considered reasonable.

A set-top box certainly doesn’t cost $350 to purchase and install, but once you start needing to upgrade the antenna in order to receive a stable digital signal, you certainly are spending that much – and more.

If the government were to take up Harvey Norman’s offer of $168 set-top box installations, that would leave next to nothing to spend on the parts of this scheme where the real costs are involved. A decent antenna alone costs over $100, and when it comes to installing it, it costs more than that just to get an installer to even look at your roof, let alone connect anything.

Digital television is all or nothing, and for many households will involve far more than just plugging in a set-top box.The costs are even higher when it comes to pensioners in areas that will need to get satellite dishes to use the VAST service. You’re at nearly $1000 once you’ve set up a new satellite dish, wiring and the more expensive decoder box; all are funded under this scheme.

Just comer home and turned on Mr. Hockey at the press club. By his body language and his answers, I would say the man has had a bad time. He stands by his figures but will not repeat them. He seems lost for words.

A fair distance from what was said. The whole paragraph went onto say that this if it occurred would be short lived. The long term outlook was good. Once again taking half paragraphs.

By the way, ABC24 just managed to say there only seven using the NBNco. Ignored the fact that there are 97% signed up.

I am sure that the two independents in the region are very happy with the outcome. If QandA of a few weeks ago is any guide, country people cannot wait for it to come pass their homes. News travels fast in the bush.